Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Unspeakable WIP Cthydra, part four

Here it is, going together more and more. All the necessary bits and pieces are in a nice littles foil bag on my desk, patiently awaiting their turn to contribute to my most ambitious project to date. Here are the latest pictures form the beastmasters' pens.


I've made a little boo-boo with the tail. It is too low and actually lifts the entire mini. I can't fix it without serious damage to the hydra, so we'll see how it goes.

I've said it before, I'll say it again - the stegadon kit is awesome. It is simply massive. It dominates the collection. I can't think of how imposing it looks with the howdah. Pure power and awe packed into multi-part plastic kit. The only thing missing is the anatomic correctness.


By the time I write this, the larger back plate will also have been finished and glued on. I'm just sitting to the freshly-undercoated smaller plate.

And in case you were puzzled by the post's title, here is the explanation:

I write like
H. P. Lovecraft
I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!



I could not be more proud if I won the Pulitzer. Writing is something I enjoy aside from painting and such praise is just great, even if it comes from a silly piece of code on a silly website.

See you next time.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Tavern Talk - One Army or More?

And welcome back.

Normally I'm not that interested in the Tavern Talk topics Kuffy sends us. No disrespect mate, it's valuable work you do, but I can't help the feeling lots of issues have been discussed previously. This one, however, is different, different enough to catch my interest and get me to write. Besides, it is my vow to make a conscious effort to update more frequently than I used to, so here it is.

Let me start with quoting the question raised:
As I am sure we all know, when one picks up the game of Warhammer it is followed shortly by a choice of army.  This is usually a single army which is then built to make a decent list which will be used a lot.  And then to be followed by an expansion to include a few more options for future games.  However, who stays with a single army?  Once you have played one for a while, does it become boring until you branch out to another?  Or, do you stick to a single army?  There are merits to having one major army and to having a number of smaller ones.  What do have and why? 
As most of my esteemed readers know, I own and develop three armies, chronologically Orcs and Goblins, Vampire Counts and Dark Elves. All are sizable,  I can safely assume I can field three to four thousand points of each force if I ever bothered to game again, especially per the eighth edition composition rules.

So, was I bored with any of these? No. Was the reason to get the new army the tediousness and wear of another force? I don't think so. So what was it?

It was the idea. A cogent, well established idea for an army, followed by a selection of a force that would fill this concept. With orcs, I pursued a forest theme mixed with liberal use of the color red. With the vampires, I wanted a dark, almost monochromatic color scheme with a prominent inclusion of old, out-of-production miniatures (I'm looking at you, armored skeletons) and "classic undead" feel. With the dark elves, I went for neat and crisp color scheme with unusual colors, lots of conversions and, just for the fun of it, as many plastic models as possible.

And the druchii are just plain kickass awesome. Taking my character and outlook on life into account, if I wasn't a human being, I'd be a druchii. Or a dark eldar.

Now, there are problems with having more than one army. Most notably, if you're planning to have multiple forces, think about whether or not you have the room to accommodate them in your bedroom or study. Secondly, if unlike me you game with them, take into account the transportation of your beloved minions. Is your current carry case up to the task of transporting completely different force? Think skaven vs. ogres. Or Bretonnia vs. the lizardmen. These contain models that tend to be very different in terms of size and shape. Keep it in mind when expanding your collection.

There you go. Thoughts on multiple armies by a multiple-army kinda guy.

And in case you were wondering, yes, I am planning further armies after I finish the ones I have completely.

Until next time.